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A tape drive (whether for cartridge, 9-track, 8-millimeter, or DAT tape) is a character device and uses device names in the /dev/rmt directory.
The following default tape device aliases are supported (these names reference the first tape device in the system):
On the first operation of the tape, a retensioning device seeks first to the beginning of the tape, then to the end of the tape, and finally, to the beginning of the tape again. Use a retensioning device for streamer cartridges that have not been accessed for some time or have been transported between accesses. The retension operation is time-consuming, but it ensures that the cartridge streamer tape is tensioned properly. A nonretensioning device does not cause retension of the tape before the first operation on the tape.
A rewinding device will seek the beginning of the tape (rewind the tape) when the cartridge streamer is closed. A nonrewinding device does not rewind the tape on close and thus enables an application to write more than one archive to the streamer tape.